Dynamic inter-regional coordination patterns as specific predictors of consciousness

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A. Demertzi, E. Tagliazucchi, S. Dehaene, G. Deco, P. Barttfeld, F. Raimondo, C. Martial, B. Rohaut, H. U. Voss, N. D. Schiff, A. M. Owen, S.

Laureys, L. Naccache, J.D. Sitt

Dynamic inter-regional coordination patterns as

specific predictors of consciousness

www.comascience.org

4th Congress of the European Academy of Neurology 17 June 2018 Lisbon

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Dynamic brain activity and cognition

Objectives | Methods | Results | Discussion

The brain cannot map the complexity of the internal and external world

(Dehaene, et al Trends Cogn. Sci. 2006; Tononi et al, Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 2016)

Barttfeld*, Ulhrig*, Sitt*, et al, PNAS 2015

Unconsciousness

Rigid spatiotemporal organization

• sleep (Tagliazucchi et al., PNAS 2013; Wang et al, PNAS 2016; Wilson et al.,

Neuroimage 2015; Chow et al., PNAS 2013)

• anesthesia

o in humans (Tagliazucchi et al, J. R. Soc. Interface 2016; Kafashan, et al,

Front. Neural Circuits 2016; Amico et al., PLoS One 2014)

o in animals (Barttfeld PNAS . 2014); Grandjean et al., Neuroimage 2017; Liang et al, Neuroimage 2015)

Typical wakefulness

important for task performance, emotion and cognition

(Alavash et al., Neuroimage 2016; Shine et al., Neuron 2016; Friston, Neuroimage 1997; Thompson et al., Hum. Brain Mapp 2013)

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To use spontaneous brain dynamics

to detect generalizable signatures of consciousness in wakeful noncommunicating conditions

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Analysis pipeline

UWS MCS CTR Total LIEGE 17 23 21 PARIS 13 9 15 NY 6 10 11 Total 36 42 47 125 LIEGE EMCS 3 MCS 14 UWS 6 Total 23

Main dataset- awake

Validation datasets sedated MCS*/CMD ONTARIO UWS-t 6 UWS+t 5 Total 11 Study cohort (n=159)

Methods

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(1) Four brain patterns

The inter-areal coordination of ongoing brain dynamics is differentially orchestrated in distinct states of consciousness

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(2) Pattern dynamics

The exploration of the identified coordination patterns differs with respect to distinct

states of consciousness

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(3) Generalization

The coordination patterns are selectively predicted in states of preserved and diminished consciousness

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Conclusions

• The dynamics of inter-areal coordination contain information specific to conscious awareness

• Results align with theoretical frameworks on the mechanisms of consciousness

• The rigid and less metastable dynamics in UWS could account for their limited mental capacities

• The minute identification of these patterns and their external manipulation could account for non-invasive restoration of consciousness

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a.demertzi@uliege.be

Coma Science Group & PICNIC Lab

…and mostly patients and their families!